Request By:
Mr. Robert M. Kirtley
Daviess County Attorney
Courthouse
Owensboro, Kentucky 42301
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
The county treasurer has advised you that the newspaper publication cost for publishing the annual audit would run $527 per newspaper page; and he articipates that it would cost the county $3,000 to publish the annual audit.
You ask whether it would be possible for the treasurer to make a summary of the receipts and disbursements and publish said summary in lieu of the complete audit, with a qualifying statement in said published summary that the general public, upon request, would be furnished a copy of the entire annual audit.
Under the express language of KRS 424.220, the financial statement of the county must show the amount of funds collected and received, from what sources received, the amount disbursed, the date of each disbursement, for what purpose expended, and to whom paid, except that only the totals of amounts paid to each individual as salary or commission and public utility bills need to be shown. If the treasurer will simply follow the authorized exceptions, the cost of publication should be reduced substantially.
In addition, under KRS 61.872 and 61.874, a copy of the annual audit may be inspected by any person; and a copy of the financial report may be procured by any person, subject to the provisions of KRS 61.874.